I was very sorry to hear today of the death of
Richard Griffiths, one of Britain's most celebrated character actors,
who died from complications following heart surgery. The stage and
screen performer, who played Uncle Vernon Dursley in the Harry Potter
films, was 65. The married actor, was born in Thornaby-on-Tees,
North Yorkshire, and grew up caring for his deaf parents and was
awarded an OBE for services to drama in 2008. He was a Tony-winning
character actor and an inspiration to many actors for his subtle and
often quietly comic roles.
I personally remember him for many of his roles
and particularly for his hilarious role as an accountant who falls in
love with a pig about to be slaughtered in the Handmade Films movie,
A Private Function, and for his role as the quarrelsome chef/detective
in the television sitcom, Pie In The Sky. I loved that show and the
depth he brought to it.
Griffiths died yesterday at the University
Hospital of Coventry and Warwickshire. Sir Nicholas Hytner, director
of the National Theatre, said that, “Griffiths's unexpected death
would devastate his "army of friends". Mr Hytner, also
said, “Richard Griffiths wasn’t only one of the most loved and
recognisable British actors – he was also one of the very greatest
and his performance in Alan Bennett's, The History Boys, as Hector,
the charismatic teacher, was quite overwhelming: a masterpiece of
wit, delicacy, mischief and desolation, often simultaneously.”
Daniel Radcliffe, today led tributes to the actor
whose "encouragement, tutelage and humour" made work "a
joy". Radcliffe, who also performed with Griffiths ( RG as
Martin Dysart) in the stage play Equus, said: "Richard was by my
side during two of the most important moments of my career.”
He continues, "In August 2000, as I nervously
started on my first Harry Potter film he made me feel at ease and
seven years later, we embarked on Peter Schaffer's play, Equus,
together. It was my first time doing a play but, terrified as I was,
his encouragement, tutelage and humour made it a joy. In fact, any
room he walked into was made twice as funny and twice as clever just
by his presence. I am proud to say I knew him." (Source:
internet tributes)
Aside from the Harry Potter films, Richard
Griffiths was most famous for his role as the gloriously camp Uncle
Monty in the cult film favourite, Withnail And I. He had a busy and varied
career in the theatrical arts and fairly recently played the charming
Monsieur Frick in the popular film, Hugo.
Well, “ Dear boy, dear boy” I will miss you
being here on earth to entertain us on our screens and stages with
your avuncular charm, wit and impish mischief. My condolences to your
family. We never met but you touched my heart and made me laugh.
Thank you.
Reproduced from The Lace Market Theatre' magazine - The Boards.
Writer Phil Lowe recently spoke to former Lace Market Theatre member, Janine Forster, about her acceptance and experiences on the Scenic Construction MA Course at RADA over the last two years.
She had the opportunity to study in the Academy's carpentry and steel fabrication workshops, working with professional directors and designers on the Academy's public productions and had the chance to visit various professional organisations such as the National Theatre and Royal Opera House.
The course gives students the opportunity to gain practical and theoretical knowledge of construction materials and their properties, carpentry and joinery, building, erecting and maintaining sets and the mechanics of scenery handling and rigging including theatrical flying. On the practical side great emphasis was placed on the safe usage of various tools such as routers, jigsaws, band, table, wall saws, lathes, grinders and sanders. The students are also taught to produce working drawings and ground plans using CAD (Computer Aided Design), budgeting and ordering of materials, technical stage management skills and the principles of masking and sightlines.
One of the best aspects of the course is a four to six weeks professional attachment to a theatre or scenic contractor and this course leads to the award of a postgraduate diploma in Scenic Construction. For the best impression of Janine's creativity and colour photographs of her work please go to Janine's website.
Phil: Are you still a member of the Lace Market Theatre?
Janine: No, as I spend most of my time down in London now. However, I would like to thank the Lace Market Theatre for the support they gave me throughout my course and not only the generous donation from the Lace Market Theatre charitable trust that helped me, but also to the members that have wished me well and kept in touch!
Phil: I understand that the scenic construction course at RADA only accept a few people per two year course. What was it about your attitude, experience and qualifications that led them to accept you?
Janine: Yes they take up to three students a year on the course. There were three of us in total in my year and we all came from very different backgrounds and not all from the theatre. Although it is a postgraduate course you do not need an undergraduate degree to apply or get on to it - just relevant experience. I think that they look for enthusiasm for the subject, dedication to build on existing skills as well as wanting to learn new ones!
Phil: London is an expensive city to exist in, would you have any personal advice for any applicant about funding oneself through a drama school course?
Janine: I would start early! You will find that you send a lot of letters and not get many responses. Funding, especially for the arts, is difficult to come by but there are a few good websites and there is a charity almanac that lists all the charities in the UK and their criteria. It is long slog and very time consuming, but worth it. I would also keep note of who you have written to and if they have responded. I have written a entry about funding advice you can find it at my blog: http://jforster-creativetypes.blogspot.co.uk/
Phil: Did you manage to get any help with finding contacts within the industry?
Janine: As part of the course you have to undertake a six week placement within the industry which the tutors and staff at RADA have established contacts with.
Phil: Was the course itself a challenge for you in terms of expanding your creative nature?
Janine: I absolutely loved the course and I would say it is the best thing that I have done. The mixture of working on productions every six weeks with personal projects gave me a great balance. The roles undertaken for the productions prepare you for working within the profession and with professional designers (RADA productions are designed by external professional designers as well as the students on the design course). The personal projects were there to improve key skills needed for scenic construction but also to give you the opportunity to get really creative and to design as well as make.
Phil: How intensive was the course?
Janine: The course was very intensive especially during build week and the run up to a show when you could be working up to twelve hours a day, six days a week . Definitely not nine to five but then again set construction is not a nine to five type of career. Also, RADA is what you take from it. During the weeks between the shows (when you could leave at five) I tended to stay late anyway to work on personal projects and learn new skills. The great thing about RADA is that it is so friendly and that there is always someone about, so if you wanted to know a little bit more about lighting or how to make a certain prop there was always someone (whether a tutor or other specialist) about to show you.
Phil: To what degree was the course practical and theoretical ?
Janine: I would say that it was 99% practical. There are some lectures, developmental talks, and health and safety training that take place at the beginning of the year. The undergraduate course also has a few more lectures about theatre history and the different types of roles in the theatre which the specialists are welcome to attend. You are continually assessed instead of having exams at the end of the year
Phil: Given your experience at the Lace Market Theatre in designing and building sets, what would you say were the major differences between the amateur world and the professional world?
Janine: I would say from a construction point of view that it is a little more removed from the actual theatre space, even if you are lucky enough to work for a producing house you will be in a workshop space away from the theatre spaces. If you work for a scenery building company you can find yourself not being involved in the fit up or visiting the venue at all!
Phil: Did you do any artistic work outside of the RADA spaces to gain experience?
Janine: I personally did not, other than my placement.
Phil: Does RADA have a support system for its graduates in finding work or contacts?
Janine: This is going to sound really cheesy but RADA is like a family! You spend up to two years (on some courses) of your life with the same group of people and because RADA is a very small community everybody knows everyone else. So once you have graduated you can pop back and say "hello" to use the facilities or ask a former tutor for advice and I would say that it is an excellent support system! As far as contacts and finding work goes there is nothing formal in place (i.e. job boards or newsletters) but more of a 'word of mouth' network - 'I heard that so and so was looking for a carpenter... you should get in touch’ type of thing.
Phil: Overall how did you find the course and did it meet up to your expectations?
Janine: It utterly surpassed them! I would very much recommend the courses at RADA.
Some
considered thoughts about being involved in a production of Trevor
Griffith's play, 'Comedians' at the Lace Market Theatre, Nottingham,
in April 1995.
Notes
from the Lace Market Theatre programme.
“We
work through laughter, not for it. (…) A joke releases the tension,
says the un-sayable, any joke pretty well. But a true joke, a
comedian's joke, has to do more than release tension, it has to
liberate the will and the desire, it has to change the situation...
there's very little won't take a joke. But when a joke bases itself
upon a distortion – a 'stereotype', perhaps – and gives the lie
to the truth, as to win a laugh and stay in favour, we've moved a way
from the comic art and into the world of entertainment and slick
success.” (Trevor Griffiths, Comedians, Act 1)
I
think that the quotation above is a key to the heart of the play in
terms of determining a dangerous/ harsh truth through laughter (often
based on an element of distort and cruelty) and the 'staying in
favour' aspect refers, in my opinion, to the pulling back of the
'punch' line to a gentler and perhaps more publicly acceptable
definition of funny = light entertainment. The cruel humour of Gethin
Price serves to demonstrate the bruised skeleton of the future of no
holds barred comedy. A true theatre of cruelty.
This
particular production's audition for an all make cast was open to
women and the role of Sammy Samuels was offered to Anne Bone. The
casting added an additionally interesting male/female often,
potentially violent, conflict between the characters Gethin Price and
Ms Sammy Samuels. The caretaker was also cast as a female role and
humorously played by Barbara Fisher.
The
first production of the play ' Comedians' by Trevor Griffiths was
performed at the Nottingham Playhouse, February 20th 1975
and then at the Old Vic: September 24th 1975. Jonathan
Pryce played Gethin Price and Jimmy Jewel, Eddie Waters.
Nottingham Playhouse and Richard Eyre as they appear in the original programme
Eddie
Waters is an older, formerly professional, comedian generously
imparting his skills to a class of mixed ability, would be working
class comedians. He is written as a man who stopped being funny at a
point in his life and rarely says anything funny through the whole
drama. He teaches them to look for the truth: the implication is that
society can be changed by persuasion. His main principles are that
the comedians confront/reject comedy that reinforces stereotypes,
that attacks gay people, the Irish, the blacks, women or a
particularly 1970s comedy scapegoat, the Pakistanis. Interestingly,
this play pre-dated the rise of alternative comedy in the 1980s and
practically leaks sexism and racism from every sweaty pore,
deliberately.
Water's students are due to perform their acts to a
live audience in a Bingo Club and to a Mr Bert Challenor, and old foe
of Waters who can offer the most talented members of the group a
contract to play the working men's clubs.
Vince Handley as George McBrain
There
are two staged venues: the classroom where the evening class is held;
a bingo hall where they perform and then back in the classroom when
the performance is over. Bert Challenor gives them a preparatory chat
before they leave the safety of the class and insists on the need to
be entertaining and that the audience is their paymaster. He
perceives the entertainer, Max Bygraves, to be the ultimate standard
of comic perfection. Gethin Price is disgusted at this news and has
changed his comedy act at the last minute much to Eddie Waters dismay
and surprise. Gethin is seen by Waters as the shining star of the
group and is considered by the rest of the group as a teacher's pet
and a strange character.
Divided
between Waters and Challenor's opposing views, most of the class have
moments of doubt about the forthcoming event, and start to reconsider
their comedic futures and the desperate hope of escaping their dead
end jobs.
Gethin
Price performs a very different act to what has been expected in
rejection to Eddie Water's ideals. During his performance, Price,
paying tribute to Grock, the famous clown, wears a white face and
launches an attack on a pair of dummies, a man and woman in evening
dress. He pins a flower on the woman's dress and blood appears. Eddie
Waters is hurt to find that Price's act is fuelled by hate, lacking
in compassion and, as far as Waters is concerned, the truth. Comedic
truth/ liberating truth. At the end of a dispiriting evening after
the others have left, Waters and Price bitterly argue about the
purpose of comedy. The raging Price explains that he favours
revolution against gradual reform.
Stuart Power as Eddie Waters.
Eddie
Waters fights to regain his moral ground and explains to Price that
he once went to a German Prison of War camp after the war and he was
attracted and also repelled by what his intellectual and unexpectedly erotic feelings gave lie to there.
The
play ends on a quasi optimistic note but with shadows of doubt from
all the participants. Two are chosen by Bert Challenor to get
contracts to work the clubs and the rest are rejected. Throughout the
play a bitter dark vein of comedy prevails. End.
I
was attracted to the role of Gethin Price after seeing a TV version
of the play with Jonathan Pryce as Gethin. I patiently waited years
to be offered an opportunity to play this part and it was my first
role at the Lace Market Theatre in 1995. My favourite part of the
rehearsals was when I had some time to look at the role having learnt
a lot of his dialogue and to find a way for the character to inhabit
the stage. I virtually looked like a skinhead so an aggressive walk
was created, exaggerated and toned down for realism. I like that kind
of approach. My accent was a whiny Manchester accent with hints of
danger, knowing bitterness and sarcasm.
Although
the comedy 'act' for Gethin was written out in the script there was
a lot of opportunities for the 'action' to be improvised, i.e: the
Kung Fu, the aggression toward the models and the audience themselves
and the upper middle class. Any actor who plays this role must love
the variety that Gethin's 'act' provides.
Review in Arts Extra (Nottingham Evening Post) by Joan Appleton.
LOOKING AT THE EDGE OF COMEDY. Comedy is a serious business. The would be comics in Trevor Griffith's powerful play 'Comedians', which the Lace Market Theatre presents this week, go through a rigorous training under 'old pro' Eddie Waters, played movingly by Stuart Power. The Murray Brothers (Steve Herring and Andrew Haynes) come hilariously to grief, the two Irish boys (Vince Handley and Keith Milne) turn in predictably funny performances. The Jewish comic, originally a man but played here by Anne Bone, had a nice line in mock aggressive humour. But the real aggression comes from Gethin Price, a violent man driven by hatred and resentment played brilliantly by Philip Lowe as a weasely white faced clown. If humour, as Griffiths says, has to be based on the truth, then perhaps his is the best kind. Only you don't laugh. Cynthia March directs the ensemble, which includes a morose caretaker (Barbara Fisher), a lost Indian (Adrian Perkins) and a smooth Cockney agent (John Hunt) with fine attention to detail. Martin Hooper's set, a grimy classroom which becomes, after the interval, a sparkling Bingo Club, leaves little to the imagination. Twenty years after the play first opened, the boundaries of what we may laugh at has widened. Comics go further. We follow uneasily. The message seems to be that you can joke about everything provided it is done from love. Comedians is a thought provoking play given a marvellous production by a first rate cast. It can be seen at the Lace Market Theatre until Saturday. April 1995.
Playing Nick in the
Lace Market Theatre's production was a hoot from start to finish with
some superb direction from the director Pat Richards.
At the time of rehearsals we pondered whether Dead
Funny will work quite as well, decades down the line, as the bygone
comics like Benny Hill and Frankie Howard fade from memory, but
written against this tale of collective obsession and of crumbling
marriages we did find it very, very funny. It was particularly funny
at one rehearsal up in the top room of the theatre when Dave Bilton
was doing his opening 'naked' scene with Beverley Saint as his
frustrated stage wife and a potential new member was being shown the
building and ended up being shown a naked man stretched over four
chairs with his stage wife kneeling before him! We think she joined.
Set in Easter 1992, Terry Johnson’s tragi-comedy
centres on a group of hero-worshipping neighbours, fixated on British
comedians of music-hall tradition. Benny Hill has just died and the
dwindling numbers of the Dead Funny Society prepare a wake.
Gynaecologist Richard (Dave Bilton) is as indifferent to his wife
Eleanor’s obsession to give birth as she is to his with dead
comics. The unease of their relationship and that of other
relationships is implicit throughout the play. Brian comes to tell
Richard, as the chairman of the Dead Funny Society of the death of
Benny Hill and he interrupts a painfully comical attempt at sexual
massage.
Brian and Richard decide to hold a celebration of Benny's
life the following Wednesday and invite the other members of the
Society. As the party progresses the mood darkens as the tension and
revelations of the various relationships come to light. Custard pies
and sausage rolls are thrown and I got to empty a bowl of trifle over
Dave's head every night! All this in reaction to finding out that my
baby is not my baby at all but fathered by Richard.
Another unlikely catalyst is the gentle neighbour
Brian who 'comes out' during the evening's entertainment and was a
superb performance of inner pain coupled with superb comic timing by
Malcolm Wilson in the Lace Market production in November 1999.
It is an hilarious comedy, needs brilliant comic
timing, the ability of the cast to recreate classic comedy sketches
and participate in frantic custard pie fights as the tragedy unfolds.
Plus a great backstage crew adept and cleaning up the mess every
night. As the main thrower of food stuffs I was told to be very
careful not to get any on the borrowed furniture. The medical torso
was hired for £23.50 for three weeks.
I particularly enjoyed the scenes during the 'Dead
Comedians' celebrations where we performed the comic sketches like
Morecambe and Wise's “Boom -ooh – ya -ta-ta”, the 'in the box'
sketch of Jimmy James and the impersonations of Frankie Howard, Max
Miller and Tony Hancock. I remember that we worked very hard at the
comic timing including some word rehearsals at Dave's house at the
latter stages. Great fun!
Review from Philip Ball (Nottingham Evening Post)
Darker side of comedy
Dead Funny
Lace Market Theatre
Philip Ball
Pat Richards has brought together a hard working
cast to provide the impersonation needed to carry Terry Johnson's
play.
They are all members of the Dead Funny Society who
gather together in homage to the legendary Benny Hill, Frankie
Howard, Jimmy James and Morecambe and Wise. The comic routines are
brilliantly done but Dead Funny has a deeper and sharper tone.
Adult audiences will not be disappointed as
observations on sexual attitudes are explored with wit and
perception. The cast run through familiar routines whilst conveying
the angst between their characters.
Malcolm Wilkinson has the best lines as Brian on
the edge of the divided relationships between Richard (Dave Bilton),
and Ellie (Beverley Saint) Nick (Phil Lowe) and Lisa (Melanie
Gallie).
This fantastic video came through on Facebook today and I wanted to share it with those who read my earlier review. It really sums up the nature of the show at Curve in Leicester and Frances Ruffelle's brilliant performance in Paul Kerryson's wonderful production.
Last Wednesday I took part in a 'Tesco's Got Talent' competition in a semi final at the conference suite at the Leicester City Football ground. I had already won a preliminary round in my current workplace with a stand up routine about butcher's shops and the meat and fish counter at Tesco.
Tesco have very strong guidelines about being rude about customers so the observational comedy I devised and wrote was more about the joke being on me than being about the customers really.
The set comprised of two jokes about butcher's shops ( themes were a cheeky rabbit and an intelligent dog) then I moved into observations about me being able to speak a bit of three languages namely French, German and Chinese. I went on to explain that we have a lot of Chinese customers and that they appreciate my attempts to be polite and I demonstrated that and then went into mock Chinese as I demonstrated verbally what I could do to their sea bass. The joke was on me as, after a lengthy explanation, it turned out they didn't speak Chinese.
Then I told the audience a true story about a strongly accented customer who said that he wanted "To piss" and that my colleague Paul was attempting to show him where the loos were. It turned out he wanted 'two piece' of salmon.
For the final part of my act I told the audience that I do the counters' announcements on the mike at work and that I had a fantasy that the Daleks had opened a branch of Tesco and I wondered what the announcements would be like. I do a good Dalek impersonation and proceeded to do three Dalek calls echoing subjects that normally happen in the supermarket.
I had woken up early (3am) the day I was due to perform and had some funny ideas that I wrote down but later in the day decided it was best to stick with the routine I was familiar with rather than adding new material last minute.
On the evening of the Tesco's Got Talent gig, I followed a young woman (No! not that kind of followed!) who was on first doing a dance routine. I was on second. Another twenty three acts were to follow, mostly singers.
The conference room was very wide and the stage was a temporary, poorly lit affair in the middle of the room by the back wall. I was confident in my material after some rehearsals at home and I found that I had to compete with a lot of chat from the tables whilst I was performing. It wasn't like the theatre or a comedy club where folk go quiet and let you entertain. I didn't let this put me off and used my skills to get the attention from the audience, the most important ones of looking and sounding confident and eyeballing each section of the audience and the judges as I spoke so that they all felt included. I got some laughs (always good for a comedian!) and the material that went down well was the Chinese language section and the Daleks in Tesco material.
The judges said that I had done very well with writing my own material, the timing of the humour and the originality of my act. I wasn't the outright winner but I got a trophy for my efforts, a fun night and a few beers and some food. The experience has made me think about doing an open mike slot at a proper comedy club sometime where people actually go to see and listen to the comedians rather than chit chat about their social lives during a set.
I think if there ever a
play I was able to get the opportunity to be involved with again, as
the lead, it would be Woody Allen's silly three act farce 'Play it
Again Sam'.
Original poster framed
Max Bromley directed
the Lace Market Theatre production back in 2004 and also designed and
built the set with a wonderful backdrop of New York apartments. This
was another play where the cast wanted to move into Alan Felix's fictional
apartment as it was so well designed and constructed. The photos
accompanying this article were taken during a dress rehearsal and the
empty book cases were actually full of American books and authentic magazines
for the show.
Alan Felix (the Woody
Allen character) lives in New York and is a writer for various film
magazines. He has an obsession for Humphrey Bogart and sees him as
the ultimate macho man who always 'gets the dames'. Alan Felix is the
opposite of macho cool; nervy, a hypochondriac, desperate for love and
sex, nerdy and self consciously witty. He has just been dumped by his
ex wife is feeling very down at the start of the play.
His best friend, Dick (
a workaholic) and his attractive wife Linda try to set him up with a
new woman on a series of disastrous dates. Each date gets worse and
worse and in the Lace Market Theatre production we had one actress
playing his ex wife Nancy plus all the other women he dated. This led
to some very funny scenes where Alison, who played all the would be
girlfriends, would go off stage as one character, rip off the costume
and come back on as another character. As the play is essentially a
New York farce all the actors had similar moments to deal with
especially when things hot up and Alan Felix starts to date his best
friend’s wife Linda and feels impassioned but dreadfully guilty at
the same time. Typical Woody Allen fare and enormous fun to do.
Sally who played Linda
recalls being helped with a really fast change backstage and the
zipper caught on the dress she had to remove, to then put on another,
before I opened the door to let her.in. I don't think the audience
heard her repeatedly and frantically whispering “Not YET, not YET!”
If I'd have opened the door the audience would have seen far more than
they should have!
A lot of the action is
based in the apartment and we used the front of the stage areas for
outdoor scenes such as the 'day in the park scene' the 'disco scene'
and the 'art gallery'. The main lighting for the apartment was dimmed
with the acting areas lit to suggest the venue. We sourced a
selection of film posters featuring Bogart and some were directly
referred to in the text.
In the auditions there
was a worry that we would struggle to get a man to be convincing in
the Bogart role but then John Parker stepped and did the Bogart
character brilliantly. Likewise, a new member called James Walker was
just right as my best friend Dick in all his comedy incarnations.
The text was often very
fast paced and quirky and very very funny. Most rehearsals we were in
tucks at the ridiculous plot and the great wit that Woody Allen is
renowned for in his comedies. Max Bromley's superb direction helped
us all with the comic actions and comic timing and made sure that the
show was the huge success that it was. Plus, of course, the support
from backstage and the sound and lighting technicians.
Playing Alan Felix, I
spent quite a lot of time reading about Woody Allen and watching some
of his earlier comedies to get the quirky nuances and vocal coughs
and ticks that he employs when talking and was thrilled and delighted
when, almost at the last minute, I managed to get a pair of glasses
from Nottingham's Gray and Bull optician's that were the same as
Woody Allen's 1960's library glasses. This pair had no glass in them
and that really helped with audience being able to see my eyes. A lot
of feelings are conveyed through the eyes.
One of my fondest
memories from the show, and there are many, was a fantasy scene where
the character of Linda comes on to Alan Felix big time and throws him
to the floor then pounces on top of him. Sally (Linda) and I could
hardly contain ourselves from laughing all the way up to the dress
rehearsals and then the director decided to add in a sultry
soundtrack of Serge Gainsbourg's 'Je t' aime'. How we got through each performance with
a live audience there I do not know!
Edited notes I made to
myself after the last night:
'I was on such a high
last night that I couldn't sleep and finally grabbed fours worth at
4am this morning, finally dragging myself out of bed at 10am Sunday
morning. No more looking in the mirror mouthing words by Woody Allen. I think I'll miss that.
For starters I've
wanted to do this play since it was announced that it would be the
first play of this artistic season and the opportunity came up to
play Alan Felix, the lead part (practically Woody Allen) and the rest
of the small cast chosen, were perfect. The director Max has been a source
of inspiration throughout the whole three months rehearsal. A great
teacher and an absolute pleasure to work with from start to finish.
The rehearsals were very hard work, particularly as I am working full
time as well, but very fulfilling and fun. Thanks goodness I took a week off work to do this.
Our last night was a
dream come true, a full and very appreciative audience who laughed at
everything, even things we thought were funny but with some audiences
hadn't raised a titter. What a fabulous feeling to generate laughter
through Woody's play and lines; my character and our cast's
interpretation of events unfolding on the stage. By the end of the
longer second act the whole place was buzzing with excitement and we
were eager to 'whack it to 'em' in the third and final act. And we
did!
As the curtain closed on us and we got ready for our line up we
were like little kids at Christmas, bouncing around with joy and a
tremendous sense of achievement. Two curtain calls and a standing
ovation, cheers, clapping and a sea of delighted faces followed and
us brave four were grinning from ear to ear. The curtain closed for
the last time and we all gave each other big hugs and sincere “well
dones” to close the experience. What a feeling! Great camaraderie
and a brilliant job well done.
We had ten minutes in
the bar where we were heartily congratulated by the remaining
audience and club members. Extremely positive comments all around.
All that effort I and my friends had put in over the last three
months had paid off. I am so pleased and proud of myself and the
stirling efforts from the director, other actors, the backstage crew
and technicians to make the whole thing a success.
After all that applause
there then came the call to go back downstairs and help take the set
down. A mammoth job but with some extra hands it was done in two
hours and the stage swept clean by midnight. Then we wearily climbed
back upstairs to some welcome food and champagne and a calm down and
a chance to look back on our week. Our sound man, Daniel, gave me a
lift home and I unpacked my 'prize' of a big framed Casablanca poster
and I shall put that up in my bedroom later today.
I have decided to keep
the glasses as a memento and I am still covered in bruises from the
'action' during the week. They will heal and my wild hair will be
shorn early next week so I don't look quite such a geek!'
Sunday 26th
September 2004
Great times, great laughs and I wish I could 'Play it Again Sam' again.
To order a script of Play It Again Sam click Amazon link above.
Description of the play
'Frozen' written by Bryony Lavery.
“One evening ten year
old Rhona goes missing. Her mother Nancy, retreats into a state of
frozen hope. Agnetha, an academic, comes to England to research a
thesis titled “Serial Killings: A Forgivable Act?” Then there's
Ralph, a loner with a bit of a record who’s looking for some
distraction … Drawn together by horrific circumstances, these three
embark upon a long, dark journey that finally curves upward into the
light in this big - brave, compassionate play about grief, revenge,
forgiveness and bearing the unbearable.” (The Guardian)
Robert Hewison of The
Sunday Times (London) describes it thus: 'A profound, hypnotising
drama about the moral and emotional effect on both the relatives of
victims and the murderer.... (It) rewards you at last with a sense of
understanding and release.'
In Frozen the
playwright Bryony Lavery examines the almost unbearable subject of
abducted and murdered children ( young girls in this case) but
carefully manages to avoid either sensationalism or sentimentality.
Her play 'Frozen' has a cast of three characters, (with two extra –
non speaking roles in the original text and Birmingham Rep 1998
production) who speak as much to the audience as they do to each
other later in the play. The majority of the writing is structured
through individual soliloquy and further into the play develops into
two person dialogues.
The story:
The mother Nancy, sends
her ten year old daughter Rhona round to her grandma's with a pair of
secateurs and never sees her again. She conducts her own fraught
journey of initial dis-belief and terror at one of her two daughters
going missing to that of support for other families in equally
terrible strife through a support organisation called FLAME.
The American
psychiatrist, Agnetha Gottsmundottir, is exploring an academic
theory that child abuse causes profound and pathological changes in
the structure of the brain as surely as physical injury does and
brings herself, and her clinical and personal convictions, to study
Ralph in soliarty confinement and lecture on her findings.
Many years after Rhona
disappears, Ralph is caught and it becomes Agnetha's job to
interrogate him in prison. It quickly becomes clear that he provides
further proof for her theory, in particular that abused children lack
the ability to create emotional bonds, that their brains actually
look different from those with happier backgrounds.
Ralph Ian Wantage is
the serial killer of young girls who cares only for his tattoos and
his secret collection of child porn videos. He is an isolated
obsessive whose sensibilities and conscience are indeed, Frozen.
Ralph shows no remorse at all; his only concern is that killing girls
isn't legal. He fantasises about a childhood in which he was 'spoilt
rotten' and his mum and dad sat around reading poetry. To Nancy,
however, he describes a father who washed his mouth out with soap and
water and beat him viciously on the side of his head. Forced by Nancy
to recognise what he has done, he is unable to cope any more, commits
suicide.
Playing Ralph:
The director Gill Scott
and the Lace Market Theatre cast discussed the themes of the play at length and I watched
the acclaimed film The Woodsman (Kevin Bacon) and read several
articles about the grim subject of child abduction and murder. Not
easy reading but interesting in trying to understand the motives of
the character I was to play. The director and I discussed how he
would move, dress, talk and behave and it was agreed that he would
dress quite smartly with a shirt and tie and be clean shaven. Most of
the first act her wears a casual jacket to hide the tattoos on his
arms that were revealed later in the play. We felt that he strove to
be as 'normal' as he could be, to avoid detection.
Ralph's character
'celebrates' his killings with a tattoo after each event and as he
travels around the northern parts of the country in his van he
gets to know the best tattooists around certain areas. The tattoos
were described in the text, that he confesses to the audience. as
being all over his body.
The first practical
problem that raised itself was how do we do these tattoos? I looked
all over for some fake ones that could be applied each night but the
tattoos were so specific (Sunburst dagger of Death – Angels
fighting with devils) that it would have been very hard to find the
right sort. After a fair battle to find a solution the actress
playing Agnetha came up with a solution. She had a friend who might
be agreeable to coming to the theatre prior to every performance to
paint them on my arms. Luckily this young lady was a skilled face
painter and applied her skills to creating some false tattoos based
on my designs. When he tells the audience of his all over body tattoo
prowess I just alluded to the others that were positioned on his back
and legs.
Regarding the speech
patterns of Ralph; I decided that his voice would have a slight
impatient tone about it except where he got to his need to 'groom'
the young girls and gain their trust in accepting a lift in his van
from them. Then I changed his tone to something more avuncular as I
thought, and the director concurred, his normal gravelly tone would
just frighten his victim away. The often staccato text (for Ralph)
itself helped in developing this decidedly odd character's way of
behaving. He says “obviously” regularly throughout the play which
to me indicated a man with very little patience and some of his other
language is almost military – 'my centre of operations and
logistically' and everything is spoken of as needing to be very
organised. When he finally converses with Agnetha and the mother for
often fabricates stories of his idyllic early family life and only
when the mother presents to him, in a very gentle way, photos of the daughter he has
killed, does the realisation of what he has done
start to hit home.
He was a very
interesting character to play – some interesting foul language to
work with and some dark moments to get through but overall I
'enjoyed' – if that's the word – playing Ralph each night in a
very close and confined studio performance where you were very much
in the audience's very nervous faces. There is often reference to
catharsis in theatrical terms and the way this play ends the audience
certainly have a cathartic ending. Obviously!
As the play was very episodic I made myself a list during the later rehearsals to remind myself of my entrances and exits and where I sat in this complex jigsaw of a play. I didn't use it during the week's run but it certainly helped to clarify what was what and indeed where.
Phil Lowe
Amazon link above to a selection of plays by Byrony Lavery including Frozen. Click on link above to order.
'From the moment we
hear his harsh and fractured ramblings, and see his awkward gait,
darting glances and madly rolling eyes we're convinced that Ralph
(Phil Lowe) is a serial killer. This isn't caricature, this is
frightening, accomplished acting. And, in the end, Lowe makes his
character pathetic.
Bryony Lavery's
beautifully wrought play, directed by Gill Scott as a studio piece,
takes us deep into the mind of a child murderer.
It's also an
exploration of the emotional plights of Nancy (Maeve Doggett), the
mother of one of his victims, and Agnetha (Sylvia Robson), a
psychiatrist studying the case, torn between professional duty and
personal need – shades of Equus here.
Whether she's hanging
out the washing or addressing a public meeting, Doggett never lets us
forget that she's a soul in anguish.
And Agnetha, with her
ringing American voice, professionally assertive but actually as
vulnerable as her subjects, is brilliantly captured by Robson.
The three are talking
sometimes to the theatre audience, sometimes to the audience at a
lecture. And the narrative moves back and forth into different
pockets of time. There's strong language and revolting dialogue but
it is never gratuitous.
Thematically it's
deeply upsetting -obviously; it's also sometimes touching. Despite
the worrying confusion between the concepts of psychopath and
paedophile, as a piece of theatre it could hardly be more rewarding.'
Griffiths died yesterday at the University
Hospital of Coventry and Warwickshire. Sir Nicholas Hytner, director
of the National Theatre, said that, “Griffiths's unexpected death
would devastate his "army of friends". Mr Hytner, also
said, “Richard Griffiths wasn’t only one of the most loved and
recognisable British actors – he was also one of the very greatest
and his performance in Alan Bennett's, The History Boys, as Hector,
the charismatic teacher, was quite overwhelming: a masterpiece of
wit, delicacy, mischief and desolation, often simultaneously.”
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